The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

ONE irate New Providence business owner left without power in the wake of Hurricane Matthew has opted to redirect her frustration with Bahamas Power and Light to art, hoping her new welcome sign could attract the attention of the company’s technicians.

The sign affixed to the door of the Fox Hill Nursery reads “12 days of no POWER! We are trying run a business! Please help.”

Amanda Myers, of the nursery on Bernard Road, said her new welcome sign marks her last-ditch effort to get the attention of anyone associated with BPL.

“Weary and worn out” by the company’s inability to restore power to her business two weeks since Matthew pummeled parts of The Bahamas, Ms Myers said she has done it all in her journey to “save her business.”

She is also frustrated because several other businesses on the same street have had electricity restored since the hurricane’s passage.

“I am depending on rain at the moment, and I feel bad saying that because we know there are still so many persons around our community with roof damage and the rain isn’t helping that,” Ms Myers said.

“I feel bad for those persons because they don’t need the rain, but I do. I just want someone from the power company to come and communicate with me, the exact problem with my supply, because it is a guessing game at this point.”

Ms Myers said she believes extensive damage to electrical nods on the pole that provides power to her store is evident. She claimed that she has brought the fact up to BPL representatives to no avail.

“And that is what is so frustrating to me and so many other people, the fact of not knowing what is actually going on,” she said. “It would be great, but nobody has stopped by to talk to us and give us an explanation on what the heck is going on.

“I have actually gone out and stalked the trucks. I have found trucks in Fox Hill and all over and I have spoken to the young men, trying to convince them to come back and work on the poles near my store.”

As if the situation were not bad enough, moments prior to her interview with The Tribune, a procession of nearly a dozen BPL service vehicles could be seen going west on Bernard Road.

“We just stood here in the parking lot and saw ten trucks drive by, they stopped and read the sign but none could offer help in our case,” she said.

“See, I needed this attention. I have done all I could. I have called the command centre over and over, followed all the protocols and still nothing; I have used the Facebook page over and over again - nothing.”

Yesterday, in a press release, BPL CEO Pamela Hill said more than 12,000 New Providence customers were still without power. BPL hopes to get most customers back on the grid by the end of the week.